Poultry coop



March 9 1926. 1,575,674 I... A. CUHEN I POULTRY COOP Filed Sept. 26 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 gnvwntoz .L 0 11/015 A. Cohefl.

Patented Mar. 9, 192%.

UNI TED S TATE S PATENT oFF cE.

LOUIS A. COHEN, or CENTRAL crrr, KENTUCKY.

POULTRY I COOP.

Application filed Septemberfifi, 1925. Serial No. 58,915.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit knownthat I, LOUIS COHEN, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Cen- =tral City, in'the county of Muhlenberg and transit. The invention has for its object the provision of simple and inexpensive means whereby thefowls may be furnished with a supply of water suflicient for use through an extended period and also to provide means whereby a stock of feed will be accessible to the fowls "without requiring the services of an attendant during shipment. The object 20. of ,the invention is further to provide watergingmeans of such construction that the supplyof .water may'be easily replenished as needed, and the invention also has for its object means whereby the fowls will be enable'd-to reach theremote portions of the feedbox or receptacle, buttheir progress will'be-retarded so that unduly rapid consumption of feed will be prevented. The invention resides in certain novel features which-will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims. In the annexed drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan View, partly broken away, ofa coop'havingmy improvements v,pplied thereto I Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectlon -withpa-rts'broken away;

"Figure 3 is 'a transverse Vertical section; and i 'Figure 4: is an enlarged section on the line :4-4 of Figure 1.

The coop comprises a floor 1, which is preferably of wood or other suitable material, and a top 2 and sides and ends 3 of wire netting of coarse-mesh. coop consists of a plurality of pipes t which are disposed,vertically'atthe corners of the coop and are connected by-lower horizontal ,and transverse pipes 5 which form the base .oflthe frame and are disposed below the floor lso as to support the same; The floor literminates at one side short of the adjacent vertical pipes 4, while at the opposite side of the coop its corners are cut away, as indicated-..atc-6,. to accommodate the adjacent The frame of the vertical pipes. The vertical pipes 4: are also connected at their upper ends by'horizontal pipes 7, whereby the several pipes will constitute the supporting frame of the coop and .will maintain the shape of the top and walls of the coop, as will be understood upon reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings,

upon reference to which it will be noted that the wire netting is disposed above-the upper pipes-7 and at the outer-sides of thevertical pipes 4. The lower edges of the netting may be secured to the adjacent-portions of the floor and the 'adjacent pipesin any desired manner so that they-will not be displaced under usage. Along one side, at the top of the coop is disposed a tank, orreservoir, 8, withwhich' the ends of the adjacent pipes 4 and 7 communicate, sothat water within the'tank or reservoir may circulate freely through all the pipes and a large supply of water thereby easily maintained. The

tank is provided with a filling opening, inclicated at 9, which is disposed at thetop of the coop, so'that it is 'easilyacces'sible and the supply maybe replenished without disturbing the 'fowls or requiring the attendant to open thecoop.

Below the tank, at the same side of the coop, is a watering trough 90 which is preferably-formed from sheet metal and has-one side edge overlying the adjacent'edgeof the floor 1, as shown, and secured-thereto. The

adjacent longitudinal wall of the trough extends downwardly past the edge of the-floor toa point-below the pipes 5, as clearly shown in Figure 3, and is then carried upwardly and inwardly to pass over the adjacentside pipe-5, as shown at 11. One end pipe 5 is provided with a faucet 12 which extends over the adjacent end wall of the trough and controls the flow of water into the trough. Th-is faucet is, of course, accessible throughan end wall of the coop, and

if thevalve therein be set in closed position no watercan fiowfrom the frame pipes'into the trough. Obviously, by properly manipulating or setting the valve the trough niay be completely filled, or the water maybe permitted to dripor flow very slowly into the trough so that the trough will be refilled at the same rate asthe water is normally consumed therefrom, and a supply of water is available to'the fowls-until the trip is ended. a y

The feed box 13 is disposed along one side ofthe coop adjacent the-troughtfi and has its side presented to the coop open throughout. The feed box may be conveniently formed of sheet metal, and has its bottom h extended inwardly below the pipe 5 and in contact with the bottom of the trough, terminating in a flange 15 which fits against the under side of the floor 1 and is secured thereto. The outer wall of the feed box is tapered or curved upwardly toward the coop and terminates in slightly spaced relation thereto with a downturned flange 16 which constitutes a support for the upper portion of a gate 17. This gate 17 is of such height that its lower edge will set upon the rearwardly projecting portion of the bottom of the trough immediately ad jacent the pipe 5, as shown in Figure 3,

and the lower edge portion of the gate consequently constitutes the back of the trough, as well as a partition separating the trough from the feed box. Adjacent the lower edge of the gate is a longitudinal series of feed openings 18 which are of proper dimensions to permit the fowls to insert their heads so as to obtain access to the feed, while the upper portion of the gate is imperforate and fits closely between proper retaining straps 19 extending longitudinally of the coop and secured in any convenient manner to the adjacent portions of the wire netting, as indicated at 20 in Figure 2.

Access to the coop is had through the top of the same, the strands of the netting being so arranged as to define a central opening 21. Disposed within said opening are the doors 22 which are arranged with their inner ends overlapping, as shown in Figures 1 and 4, and are supported by cross wires 23 secured to the wire netting at the sides of the opening 21 and extending across the opening above and below the doors, as shown most clearly in Figure 4:. The outer ends of the doors are connected with and supported from the netting by bowed springs 24 which are attached at their ends to the top of the coop and at their intermediate portions to the doors, as shown clearly in Figures 1 and 4. The tendency of the springs is to hold the doors in the position illustrated, with their inner ends overlapping, so that the opening 21 will be covered throughout substantially its entire extent and the escape of the fowls will be pre vented. hen it is desired to remove a fowl, either one of the doors is pushed aside until its inner end clears the inner end of the other door, whereupon the moved door may be swung upwardly, the spring 24 serving as a pivot, it being noted that the ends of the springs are formed into eyes 25 encircling the adjacent strands of the netting which forms the top of the coop. Of course, re verse movement of the door will return it to closed position.

The gate 17 is formed of straw board,

heavy paper, or some similar material which is cheap and is apt to disintegrate when wet. Obviously, the water in the trough 9 will generally rise to such a level that it will flow over the adjacent side pipe 5 and come into contact with the lower edge portion of the gate, so that the gate will be eventually so softened that it will be destroyed by the actions of the fowls in feeding. Moreover, the fowls in drinking will splash the water over the lower portion of the gate. The water thus splashed upon the gate will, of course, moisten a wide extent of the same so that as the fowls feed they will be enabled topush more and more through the feed openings 18 and enlarge said openings, and access to the feed in the remote portions of the feed box may be had. The texture of the gate should be such that while it will eventually be practically destroyed by the actions of the fowls in feeding and the splashing of the water upon the gate, the life of the gate will be sufficient to maintain its utility through a long period and prevent the fowls from consuming the feed too rapidly.

The end walls of the feed box may be removed when necessary to vplace an additional supply in the feed box and, of course, the gate may be renewed whenever necessary by merely removing the unmutilated portion of a used gate and then slipping a new gate downwardly between the retaining straps 19.

It will be readily noted that the pipes of the water circulating and supplying system constitute means for supporting the frame of the coop, so that the coop is very strong and durable and at the same time may be produced at a low cost. It is also to be understood that the feeding and watering system may be applied to old coops by merely adding thereto a tank and a trough and connecting the tank with the trough at its ends, a unit to be thus applied to existing coops being, of course, applied to one side of the coop.

lVhile the coop is intended primarily for use in shipping poultry, it may be employed for confining them at one point, and the feeding and watering elements may be employed in caring for birds, dogs or other animals.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. Feeding and watering means for poultry'coops comprising a feed box, a watering trough, means for securing the feed box and the watering trough to the coop along one side of the same, means for supplying water to the trough, and a gate closing the inner side of the feed box and separating the same from the trough, said gate being of a material which deteriorates under moisture.

2. Feeding and watering means for poultry coops comprising a feed box, a trough extending along the lnner side of the feed box, means for securing the trough and the feed box to the floor of the coop, means for supplying water to the trough, and a gate fitted between the inner side of the feed box andthe adjacent side of the coop and provided adjacent its lower edge with feed openings, said gate being perishable under the action of moisture.

3. Feeding and watering means to be applied to poultry coops comprising a feed box having an open inner side presented to the coop, a trough extending parallel with the feed box adjacent the bottom of the same, means for securing the trough and the feed box, means for supplying Water to the trough, and a paper gate removably fitted between the side of the coop and the open side of the feed box and provided adjacent its lower edge with a longitudinal series of feed openings, said gate being exposed to the water in the trough, and means .on the coop above the feed box for retaining the upper edge portion of the gate in place.

4:. In a poultry coop, a tank, pipes in communication with the tank constituting a frame for the coop, a trough extending along one side of the coop at; the bottom of the same, and a faucet on one of said pipes extending over the adjacent edge of the trough to control the flow of water into the same.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LOUIS COHEN. 

